A group approach for societal problem solving Towards an agenda for fighting crime in the innercity of Amsterdam

New insights in the world of organized crime and the realization that they only can tackle problems in cooperation with many other actors, made the police force of the inner city of Amsterdam feel the need to get insight in the problems it is dealing with and possible solution directions. As this situation constitutes a complex problem were many actors are involved, a participative approach for this problem is followed. A number of group sessions was designed, based on the principles of the Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing (SAST) technique. This paper discusses the design and results of the sessions and a point to future improvements.